Making and monitoring errors based on altered auditory feedback

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Auditory Perception
• Music Performance

Background:

• Altered auditory feedback (AAF) is known to disrupt music performance, affecting action planning and feedback perception.
• Previous theories suggest AAF disruption arises from interference in shared perception-action representations.
• This study investigates AAF's impact on error monitoring mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how altered auditory feedback (AAF) affects error monitoring during music performance.
• To determine if error monitoring under AAF relies on executive resources.
• To explore whether individual differences in auditory-motor associations modulate AAF effects.

Main Methods:

• Experiment 1: Participants performed melodies with normal, altered, or no auditory feedback, estimating error frequency.
• Experiment 2: A concurrent load task was added to assess executive resource involvement in AAF effects.
• Study 3: Correlational analysis examined AAF effects in poor-pitch singers, hypothesized to have weaker perception-action links.

Main Results:

• Participants overestimated error frequency when AAF was present, but not with normal feedback.
• A concurrent load task amplified AAF's disruptive effects but did not change error overestimation.
• The overestimation of errors under AAF was reduced in poor-pitch singers.

Conclusions:

• Altered auditory feedback (AAF) interferes with error monitoring during music performance.
• The findings support the role of associations between perception and action within an internal forward model.
• Individual differences in auditory-motor associations influence susceptibility to AAF-induced performance disruptions.